Puppy!
by That Tath
Summary: During a Hogmeade weekend, an Animagus Sirius is mistaken for a stray and is now at the mercy of an unforgiving six year old.


**Disclaimer: I only own the obnoxious six year old child, nothing else. **

**A/N: I was originally going to call this **_**How Sirius Came up with the Name Snuffles,**_** but I decided that was too long and annoying, so you're stuck with the title **_**Puppy!**_** Enjoy!**

_How the hell did this happen?_ Sirius though miserably. He was sitting behind a small wizard house in Hogsmeade at the mercy of an unforgiving six year old. He was currently stuck in his Animagus form; the child was too watchful for him to escape or change back. _Not like I could go anywhere with this stupid collar on..._

It was just going to be a normal Hogsmeade trip. That is, until Sirius decided that he'd rather spend the day as an Animagus, for reasons unknown to even him. When he reached Hogsmeade, he simply slipped behind one of the shops and changed into a large black dog. He completely ignored the laughter of his friends as he bounded down the road, free from work and stuffy classrooms.

He had just wandered into someone's backyard when a loud voice behind him shouted "Puppy!" Sirius should've just kept walking and ignored the child, yet something stopped him and made him turn back, not realizing the danger he was in. The child ran over and started petting him. Sirius sat completely still; enjoying the attention the child was giving him.

"Hold on puppy, I'll be right back!" She said. She ran over to the house and quietly entered. She returned a few minutes later with something held behind her back. She ran back to him and before Sirius realized what was going on, she had clipped a collar around his neck. Sirius shook his head in annoyance. The collar felt extremely weird around his neck. He began backing up a bit. When he realized that the girl wasn't trying to stop him, he began running away... only to realize that he couldn't leave the yard. The collar had a spell on it to stop its wearer from leaving the boundaries set by it.

The girl laughed and ran back over to Sirius. "You're gonna stay with me forever!" She said gleefully. "I'll call you Snuffles the Second!" Sirius felt sick. Snuffles? What sort of sick person would name their dog Snuffles? And why was he the Second? Sirius paused for a moment, before praying that he was not wearing a dead dog's collar.

Sirius had spent the rest of the day under the watchful eye of the girl. She never stopped talking, always rambling on about one topic or the other. By the time the sun began to set Sirius was tired, hungry, and could feel the start of a huge headache coming on. The child seemed to suddenly realize how late it was and jumped up. "I have to go Snuffles! I'll bring you some food soon! See you tomorrow!" With that she ran into the house, leaving Sirius alone.

Sirius sat down as far from the house as he possibly could and considered his options. They were pathetically limited. He could either stay here until the child let him go or he could change back to his regular form, remove the collar, and make his way back up to the castle.

Sirius decided that the second plan was the best. He changed back. The collar shrunk down to the same size as his neck. Oh that's annoying. He thought, giving it a small tug. _Why'd they have to charm the collar to shrink or grow according to the neck it's on?_ Sirius spun the collar around and fumbled with the clasp. It wouldn't budge. _Probably one of those fancy collars that can only be removed by magic too..._

Sirius heard the door open. He quickly changed back to dog shape. The young girl slowly walked towards him, trying to balance a large bag of dog food, a dish of water, and an empty bowl. She ended up dropping the bag and the empty bowl, but only spilled a bit of the water. She carefully set down the remainder of the water and poured a large amount of dog food into the empty bowl. "There you go Snuffles!" She said, running back up to the house.

Sirius drank the water, but completely ignored the dog food. Anything that looked like dried deer turds was not supposed to be eaten. He walked a short distance away from the food and sat down again, trying to rethink his options. He refused to believe that he was stuck with this monster. There had to be some other way he could escape. Sirius sighed. The only way that came to mind was if his friends noticed he was missing, if they decided to look for him, if they came back to Hogsmeade, if they managed to find this house and if they managed to notice him- a pure black dog sitting in a dark yard on the night of the new moon.

A twig snapped nearby. Sirius jumped up and took a small step backwards. He could hear an odd shuffling noise nearby and the soft murmur of voices. He began to growl softly, backing up slowly. He heard a soft laugh coming from the darkness in front of him. "Relax Padfoot, it's us!" James said, pulling off his invisibility cloak.

Sirius ran over to them and changed back. "Thank god! Its about bloody time!" He gave a meaning full tug on the collar. Remus laughed and pulled out his wand. The collar quickly fell off Sirius's neck. Remus handed it to Sirius with a little more flourish than was necessary. Sirius glared at it and threw it as hard. "Let's get out of here." He said, trying not to yawn.

"Sure thing... Snuffles." Peter said with a small snort. Sirius froze and turned to stare at him.

"What? You don't think we missed that, did you?" James grinned. "We were waiting here since the little monster came with your dinner-" He gave a soft chuckle. "Sorry. Anyway, we were just waiting for the cover of darkness to rescue you."

"Of course," he continued, pulling the cloak over them. "We are not going to let you forget this anytime soon..."

XXXXX

"...if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?" Sirius said. He changed back into his Animagus form and accompanied them back down the mountain, running off towards the edge of the village when they arrived at the bottom. He paused after a little bit and watched Harry, Hermione, and Ron walk back to the castle. He smiled, remembering the day he was first called that name.

He trotted down the road and paused in front of a small house towards the end of the road. A witch was out front, working in her garden. She looked up when he approached, clearly shocked to see him sitting there. "You remind me of someone..." She said softly, holding out her hand. Sirius stared at her hand before giving a loud bark and dashed off. Behind him, the witch smiled and remembered a day a long time ago when she had met a large dog similar to the one that had just run off. "Snuffles." She whispered. "That was his name." She shook her head and went back to her gardening.

Sirius watched her for a moment before going back to his search for a paper, his mind filled with memories of the day he became 'Snuffles'.


End file.
